Life Under the Blue Sky: The View From Below

Archive for the ‘angst’ Category

I’m in a sort of writing kind of mood tonight so I’m going to share a little more of my list of things that tick me off (I’m smoothing out my language a little.) Here are numbers 21-35.

21. The assumption that all Christians are evil because of people like the folks at the Westboro ‘Baptist’ ‘Church’ or because of pedophile priests.

22. The assumption that anyone has a right to membership in the church without meeting the requirements for membership in the Church.

23. The assumption that liberalism (theological and/or political) is more progressive and forward thinking than conservatism or orthodoxy.

24. The assumption that freedom is found in the ability to live without reference to God or His Son Jesus Christ.

25. The assumption that homosexuality is not a sin just because people are ‘born that way’. (The assumption that (insert sin here) is not sin because people are ‘born that way,’ ‘had no father,’ ‘grew up in West Philadelphia,’ ‘had a crack-whore for a mother,’ ‘the government made it legal,’ ‘Clinton did it,’ etc.)

26. The assumption that persistence in sin will not lead this country, into free-fall and destruction. The parallel assumption that persistence and tolerance of sin in the church will not cause the church to ‘lose it’s place’.

27. The assumption by some Christians that voting a certain way, for a certain candidate, for a certain party assures and protects God’s Sovereignty. (And also the assumption that the opinions of Pat Robertson or James Dobson matter when it comes to political decisions by the rest of us.)

28. The assumption that the holocaust discredits or mitigates God’s essential goodness, Sovereignty, or Plan for this world through Jesus Christ.

29. The assumption that atheists have an intellectual advantage over Christians because they don’t need ‘faith’ or ‘God’ to sustain their point of view.

30. The assumption that if we just do enough ‘good deeds’ that all will be well in the world.

31. That assumption that morality doesn’t matter. (And the assumption, ironically, that morality can be legislated.)

32. The assumption that the Biblical point of view doesn’t matter or is flawed or is outdated or is irrelevant or is meaningless. (It is the only ‘point of view’ that matters.)

33. The assumption that people can just say, “God doesn’t exist” and that it somehow makes it true.

34. The assumption that atheists do not need to prove the major premise of their argument (that is, that God doesn’t exist.)

35. The assumption that Darwinism is sophisticated enough to explain all of life’s complexity and diversity. (It’s not.)

That should keep some folks busy for a while. My list is just short of 70 and my list of things that do not P me off is even longer. (I like that list better :) ) Thanks for stopping by and reading.

11. The assumption that those outside the Church have a right to tell those inside the church how to conduct themselves with respect to the Scripture.

12. The assumption that the Church cannot make statements about sin in this world. It seems it’s OK for the world to judge the church, but the church cannot judge the world.

13. The assumption that faith is invalid evidence for truth.

14. The assumption that only those who accept hedonism and anarchy are culturally advanced.

15. The assumption that Christians are a blight on this world.

16. The assumption that the Church ought to be doing more to solve this or that crisis that the world caused because of sin. Or, for that matter, that we should prevail upon God in our prayers to end this or that catastrophe whose origin is in sin.

17. The assumption that it is the Church’s responsibility to end world poverty by using our tithes and offerings to supply what the world is lacking.

18. The assumption that the opinion of atheists matters more than the opinion of a Christian.

19. The assumption that God believes in atheists.

20. The assumption that Christ faith has no place in the arenas of politics, public education, and the like.

That’s part two. This is getting depressing. I’ll try to keep the angst to a minimum. I’m just tired to death of the unbelievers in this world thinking that their ideas are all that matters–that they are the true shapers of opinion and culture. You might call this my 95 Thesis to the World.

Life Under the Blue Sky

Thanks for visiting with me for a little while. I hope you find something here that is helpful or encouraging in some way.
There's a lot here and I hope that what it shows is a little or a lot of growth on my part. That said, some of the older stuff you find in here may not be all that helpful. I used to be rather graceless and judgmental. Much of that has changed as I have grown more and more accustomed to the grace of God.
I will also be changing the format here soon. For now I have been blogging sermons and lessons (and I will continue that), but in the not too distant future this blog will be overhauled to reflect more changes taking place in my life. Thanks again for the visit and as always, feel free to leave a comment.
jerry